WOMEN ON SCREEN
Tune into classic films with female stars, uncover some of Marilyn Monroe’s secrets and find out more about Caitlyn Jenner’s transformation
This film was co-produced and directed by Sarandon’s ex Tim Robbins, who adapted the screenplay from the non-fiction book of the same name.
Released in 1995, at the 68th Academy Awards, Dead Man Walking was nominated in four categories: Sarandon won Best Actress, Penn was nominated for Best Actor, Robbins was nominated for Best Director and its main track Dead Man Walkin’ by Bruce Springsteen was nominated for Best Song.
That was then, and this is now. Sarandon is in the cast of the Lifetime series The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe, which premieres on Sunday at 8pm.
Kelli Garner stars in the title role, and Sarandon plays her mother Gladys. In a lovely piece of casting, Sarandon’s daughter Eva Amurri Martino plays the young Gladys.
The gorgeous Jeffrey Dean Morgan is in this (as Marilyn’s second husband Joe DiMaggio), as is Embeth Davidtz, who spent much of her early life in South Africa, and Emily Watson.
Uncovering many closelyguarded secrets the blonde bombshell kept from the public, the four-hour miniseries is based on the New York Times’ best seller of the same name by J Randy Taraborrelli. It has been nominated for three Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
It begins with a portrait of a young Norma Jeane Mortenson as she battles a lonely and loveless existence, dealing with an absent mother.
Despite the odds, Norma Jeane blossomed into a funny, smart and ambitious woman and reinvented herself to become the symbol of an era.
Although her movie studio told the world that Marilyn’s mother was dead, it is the great secret of Marilyn’s life that Gladys remained a vital and troubling part of her world.
Anyone who ever watched even a few minutes of any Kardashian train wreck shows can’t possibly say they were surprised when Bruce Jenner decided to finally become Caitlyn. And good for her too. She looks jolly fine as a woman of 65.
It does help to be in a position of having a posse of stylists and hair and make up artists at one’s disposal. I think that would make any one of us prettier.
But in the first episode last Sunday we saw Cait without make up and filming herself at 4.30am as she pondered whether she can be a decent role model, and the part she plays in the transgender community.
I think as long as the world keeps pigeon-holing those who have undergone this transformation as a separate species as it were, we’re never going to get anywhere, but that’s just me.
Caitlyn was a man, now she’s a woman. That’s all there is to it. Sadly, most people don’t think that way; there is a terrible amount of judgement and persecution, and a tragically high suicide rate among those who take this step.
Plus – and this little snippet comes from Last Week Tonight With John Oliver – in the great US of A, people are still forced to use the public bathrooms assigned to their birth gender. How ridiculous is that?
In her pre-dawn video, Cait says: “I feel bad that these (people) – especially young people – are going through such a difficult time in their life. We don’t want people dying over this. We don’t want people murdered over this stuff. What a responsibility I have towards this community. Am I going to do everything right? Am I going to say the right things? Do I project the right image? My mind’s just spinning with thoughts. I just hope I get it right. I hope I get it right.”
With two episodes aired in America thus far, early reviews of have been largely positive. Critics particularly praised the series’ approach to the social issues of the transgender community and its influence on the way Americans see and understand transgender people in general.
And although members of the Kardashian family, as well as Jenner’s own children, make appearances, it’s nowhere near as trashy.
In episode two, Jenner goes on a road trip with her new friends from the LGBT community who wonder whether Jenner is a suitable person to become their new spokesperson because of her privileged celebrity status.
It’s never going to be easy.